toxic masculinity

Noun

toxic masculinity (uncountable)

1. (gender theory) Those aspects of traditional masculinity perceived to reinforce aggression, emotionlessness and other negative qualities, theorized as a component of masculine ideology, particularly in the United States.
   • 1995, Shepherd Bliss, "Mythopoetic Men's Movements", in Kimmel, Michael S., The Politics of Manhood: Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men's Movement (And the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer), Temple University Press, p. 303:

     Rather than trying to imitate women or become 'honorary women', the path I suggest is to overcome Toxic Masculinity and recover the Deep Masculine, which lies at the base of each man.

   • 2014, Lindy West, The Guardian, 2 December:

     In a culture where male victimhood is stigmatised as feminine and weak (toxic masculinity is, above all, an extension of misogyny), believing male victims isn’t oppositional to feminism, it is a feminist imperative.

   • 2016, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, 13 June:

     This, of course, is hoary nonsense, as there is a long and ignoble history of Christian-identified men, caught up in the cult of toxic masculinity, sowing discord and causing violence in our country.

   • 2016, Stephen T. Asma, ‘The weaponised loser’, Aeon, 27 June:

     The facts of toxic masculinity are rarely discussed after mass shootings, as we beat the usual drums of gun control and mental health.

Further reading

• toxic masculinity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia